Megan Phelps-Roper was born as a member of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. She was raised to “Obey. Obey. Obey.” the Bible. Religion wasn’t optional, it was her whole life. At age 13 she was baptized, and all she wanted to do was make her family proud and go to Heaven. She believed that when she protested gay pride parades, and AIDS victims funerals that she was “engaged in a profound act of love,” by expressing her concern for these people, and by fulfilling God’s words. She said, “she didn’t hate gay people… God hated gay people.” Megan soon became twitter famous, where she shared hateful messages, and got into arguments with protestors. She also developed genuine relationships with her “enemies.” Megan began to question the answers the church gave her over certain topics, like “Death penalty for fags.” Megan’s feelings towards death and world tragedies like famines became to change. Whereas her mother would be glad, Megan felt remorse and began to wonder if something was wrong with her, or wrong with the church. As she grew older, the standards of women in the church began to regress. Suddenly, she was being treated like a child again, and was being told very specifically what she could and could not wear. It became outrage, and soon after her and her sister Grace left the church.

Social media emboldened Megan’s initial message by giving her a larger platform, and therefore a larger voice. People that may have never come in contact with the church were now seeing her and she saw it as a “encouraging sign that Westboro’s message was well suited to social media.” Megan found pride in posting to twitter and being able to reach such a large audience with her Bible passages and wise teachings. When Megan began to find comfort in some of her online relationships, specifically with C.G, she noticed a change in her reactions to events. When she saw news that Brittany Murphy had passed away she felt, “an unexpected pang,” rather than the cold-heartedness she had been raised to feel when a celebrity died. Social media showed her pictures of starving children in famine, and she began to see people of the world as humans, not sinners. Social media showed Megan a world that she had not been raised to see, and it changed the way she felt about everything.

I believe if Megan had not gotten on twitter and made the relationships she did, she wouldn’t have left the church as quickly. It was the authoritative tone combined with the humor and respect in her relationships that ultimately led to her rethinking the ways of Westboro. If she had not been posed with questions about the death penalty, or about God’s forgiveness, it may have never crossed her mind that there is another way to believe, and another way to spread love. I think her story shows that the only true way to get to someone is to treat them as human, talk to them as human, and challenge them. Change is possible in everyone.

If I had an opportunity to talk to Megan I would ask her if losing her family was worth the sacrifice. Sometimes I think about this regarding my family, if my growth would be worth leaving them behind. As someone who has a story well beyond the challenges of mine, I am curious to what she would have to say.